J2Ski Holiday 30th January 2016 - Alpe d'Huez

I guess that many of the J2skiers were waiting for their flights as we arrived at Grenoble.

We had one and a half days reasonable visibility from the whole week, with the remaining days offering really poor visibility.

Frau Mac and I chose to ski the Sarenne on the sunny day. However it was one of those rare days where organising our small group was like herding cockroaches, and so it was afternoon before we managed to start skiing the Sarenne.

Given there was a lot of fresh snow, there was a big difference between the early and later conditions. The late start adversely transformed the skiing conditions. If you are tackling the Sarenne with fresh snow, go early. It was unfortunate that with the bad viz on the other days, I didn't get to ski the tunnel. I was looking forward to the run out.

We had fresh snow every day. I found the best way to deal with the bad viz was to ski it directly, and just accept that on occasions, I would make the odd Klammer turn, ie one ski trying to be alongside my helmet..... but always hanging on. No falls for me or Frau Mac.

I was sad not to get any painting done. This is not Tirol, so no old Stubles or Jochalms set against mountain backdrops. I guess I just have to accept this in France.

Lord knows what paintings might be possible in Colorado....

Well done Dave Mac, and Frau, for not falling over in the poor visibility you had most of the time in Alpe d'Huez. I suppose we were lucky really. We only had a day and a half when the visibility was bad.

We had a complete beginner with the group this time, and here's a photo of PistePaul showing her how to snow-plough. She had lessons in the morning with the ESF and skied with some of the group during the afternoon.

AllyG wrote:Well done Dave Mac, and Frau, for not falling over in the poor visibility you had most of the time in Alpe d'Huez. I suppose we were lucky really. We only had a day and a half when the visibility was bad.

We had a complete beginner with the group this time, and here's a photo of PistePaul showing her how to snow-plough. She had lessons in the morning and skied with some of the group during the afternoon.

Didn't he know that the French do not approve of non-qualified instructors giving lessons :twisted:. Lucky he is not in jail :mrgreen:.

Next time my helpful OH tells me to lean forward down the hill (as he is inclined to do with annoying regularity), I shall report him to the French authorities.

:lol:

I think it should be said that if you are going to tackle the Sarenne, do it in the morning irrespective. Ive skied it I reckon a dozen times now, and each time we did it during the afternoon, conditions were seriously worse than the morning. Number of skiers carving it up and changing temps see to that unfortunately.

You can blast down it on a morning, nice squeaky snow and some fresh grooming if you're early enough, whereas in an afternoon it will be mogulled in parts, making the short steeper sections more difficult and not for the timid intermediate. You might also find you can't attack the flat bottom section as well later in the day with a bumpier approach or slushier snow.
It is, however, a great long run, and well worth taking the time to go up and do....even if you are faced with the start which can be intimidating for the less experienced skier.

As for the Tunnel, I have only done it once. Most times I was in ADH previously, it was shut....either lack of fresh snow making the big car sized moguls like concrete, or too much fresh snow and avalanche risk. So the one day I saw it open after a fresh dump and with reasonable visibility, I went for it. I think you just have to hit it when you can as it may not be accessible when you change your mind to go for it.

I really enjoyed my 3 trips to ADH, for France its something a little more unusual and interesting.

What did people make of the Montfrais sector?

I went down the Sarenne in the afternoon and it was very crowded and there were masses of moguls, but I found the moguls quite useful because they did help me to stop and gave me something to turn on. There was a 45 minute queue for the Pic Blanc up to the top of the Sarenne (and the start of the Tunnel) so we went up the Marmottes 3 lift and down the red hermine to join up with the Sarenne. I was with Oldboarder and his son, and we weren't sure how flat the last bit was going to be (it's a green run along the bottom) so we went up the Chalvet chairlift and down the red campanules to get back to the Berger part of Alpe d'Huez. Other than that we would have had to continue on the green and then get on the scare chair half way, at it's lowest point between Alpe d'Huez and the Auris side.

I think the only time I skied in the Montfrais sector was on Monday morning with the Evolution ski instructor, who was working for the Ski Club of GB doing the tour of the resort, and we skied through it on the way down to Vaujany 1250. I'm afraid I didn't particularly notice anything, Tony.

Here's another of PistePaul's photos.
Left to right:
Oldboarder's son, Davidsa2, Oldboarder, one of Billip1's daughters, Flat country Skier and her OH, Benneta, Dave Eagleman